Remaining Chennai Super Kings home matches to be played in Pune

11 Apr 2018

Chennai Super Kings are set to play the remaining home fixtures at the MCA Stadium in Pune, after all matches had to be moved away from Chennai due to security concerns.

“CSK will be asked to move their home matches to Pune as the Chennai police has expressed their inability to provide adequate security for the remaining matches,” said IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla as per FirstPost.

Earlier today, IPL was contemplating moving the remaining home fixtures for CSK due to security concerns over the ongoing protests regarding the Cauvery River water dispute between the state and Karnataka.

“There are only a few direct flights available from Vizag. If the team has to travel to Indore, then they had to reach Indore via Delhi. Pune has better connectivity, so it was decided that CSK shift base to Pune,” an IPL source said to Times of India.

The source further stated that captain Dhoni knows the conditions well and logistically it made sense to have Pune as the new venue.

Chennai’s first IPL game in three years, which took place on Tuesday, was marred by several political parties protesting outside the ground and causing disruption. The effect of the protests were also felt during the game as shoes were hurled by a small group of fans at CSK players during Kolkata Knight Riders’ innings.

This is not the first time CSK have been forced to shift their home games to another venue. In 2014, they had to move to Ranchi as Sri Lankan players were banned from playing in Tamil Nadu due to political tension between both the neighbouring regions.

CSK’s next game is set to played against Kings XI Punjab on April 15. As per current schedule, their second ‘home’ game will take place on April 20 against Rajasthan Royals.